What we know about the shooting and the brawl involving “several hundred people” in Poitiers

At least five people were injured in a shooting which broke out in the Couronneries district of Poitiers on the evening of October 31. A brawl involving “several hundred people”, according to the authorities, then broke out between rival gangs.

The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, spoke of a “tipping point”. At least five people, including one very seriously, were injured this Thursday, October 31 in the evening, in a shooting that occurred in the Couronneries district of Poitiers.

A brawl then broke out between rival gangs, involving up to “several hundred people”, according to the prefecture. BFMTV.com takes stock of what we know at this stage.

• A shooting in front of a restaurant

It was around 10:45 p.m. when gunshots were reported at Place de Coimbra, in the Couronneries district of Poitiers, a place known for drug trafficking, BFMTV learned from a police source. The shots were fired by individuals in a car who fled, we learned from the same source.

When they arrived on site, the police discovered five people suffering from gunshot wounds. Among them, a 15-year-old teenager, very seriously injured in the head. His vital prognosis is still in jeopardy. Two other teenagers, 16 years old, were slightly injured in the shoulder and ankle. Two other victims presented themselves to the Poitiers University Hospital.

• A fight between rival gangs

While the police are still on the scene, the officials are attacked by young people from the area against a backdrop of tensions between rival gangs. According to a source from the investigation at BFMTV, many people flocked to the scene after the shooting, seeking to take justice into their own hands by finding the alleged perpetrators.

Scuffles broke out in Coimbra Square, with around fifty people present at the start, forcing the police to use tear gas and establish a security perimeter.

The police have also been informed that relatives of the victims have taken a young man who they believe to be close to the shooters, we learned from the same source. The police manage to exfiltrate the young man before taking him to the police station for questioning.

Calm returned to the area around 11:30 p.m., and police reinforcements were sent to the site, as indicated by the Vienne prefecture.

At the height of the brawl, “between 400 and 600 people” were involved, according to the words of Bruno Retailleau, guest this Friday morning on BFMTV-RMC, citing a note sent by the prefect to Beauvau.

“We had several hundred people around” the scene, the prefect of Vienne Jean-Marie Girier told BFMTV, adding that “not all of them participated” in the events. For the moment, BFMTV has not had confirmation of these figures.

• A settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking

According to the first elements of the investigation, the preferred hypothesis is that of a settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking, a police source explained to BFMTV. “It’s linked, I can confirm it,” Bruno Retailleau insisted on our antenna.

“Today, drug scum no longer has limits (…) These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this western France once renowned for its tranquility We are at a tipping point and the choice we have today is between a general mobilization or the Mexicanization of the country,” added the Minister of the Interior.

In 2023, 315 incidents of homicide or attempted homicide linked to drug trafficking were recorded, a jump of almost 60% compared to 2022, according to figures from Beauvau.

• “A new episode of unacceptable violence”

After the shooting and the brawl, reactions multiplied among elected officials. In a press release, the mayor of the city, the ecologist Léonore Moncond'huy castigated “a new episode of unacceptable violence for the neighborhood and for the city”.

“The youth of the victims and those involved is particularly striking and worrying,” she added. On our channel, she also called for “more repression”, but “with strong means” and a “daily presence”.

MP Sacha Houlié, from the 2nd constituency of Vienne, considered that the events occurring in Poitiers are “symptomatic(s) of the gangrene resulting from the expansion of drug trafficking”.

He also mentions two texts, prepared with the former Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, “one creating specialized jurisdictions and prosecutions against organized crime as well as a new offense”, “the other on the status of repent to break the law of silence.

Bruno Retailleau, for his part, said he was in favor of making the fight against drug trafficking “a great national cause”, while showing his desire to make a “new law”.